The present invention relates to an airbag module comprising a heat-cured silicone sealant as a mechanism for attachment, and a method of making the airbag module.
Airbags typically include two or more stacked fabric layers that are attached to each other so as to make a bag-like structure capable of being filled by gas from a gas inflator when the airbag is deployed during a crash event. The fabric layers are made impermeable to gas leaks using an elastomeric coating. The attachment mechanism between the two coated layers also include a sealing mechanism so as to create a seal between the fabric layers such that that the gas from the inflator does not leak out from between the layers.
In some conventional airbags, the method of manufacturing includes the steps providing a first fabric layer which has a gas-impermeable coating, applying a sealant along a pattern in which the seams of the airbag are to be formed, disposing a second fabric layer with a gas-impermeable coating onto the first coated fabric layer such that the sealant is located between the two layers, compressing the first and second layers, allowing the first and second layers to cure for 24 hours in ambient temperature, and sew or stitch the first and second layers together along the sealant pattern. This process is time consuming because of the 24 hour (or more) curing time for the sealant and laborious because of the sewing process.